Selkie 691

Was going to say "Sharpie" instead of marker, but (A) I dunno if that brand name is used outside America and (2) I've got a pattern of parody-brand-names I'd like to stick too but didn't want readability of the joke to get obscured. So, "marker".

Oh I loved this page so much! I think the surface joke is that Theo heard “My tattoo” and thought she meant it was on Amanda (there’s an old joke along those lines of misunderstanding where a guy, upon seeing a dog enthusiastically licking its genitals comments to his friend “Boy I wish I could do that!” Wherupon his friend says “That dog would bite you!!”). I think it really touching that Amanda takes such pride and even possessiveness in the tat her mom got just for Her (and did herself) and yeah there is probably a certain amount of self-flagellation for Andi in that, inscribing permanently into her flesh a reminder of the daughter who is a part of her and always has been even through the years apart (and a reminder to not let her go again). I also love that she plans to expand on it with Amanda’s input, some may think that is an odd way to bond, but damaged people deal with their pain in different ways, and both Amanda and Andi are damaged from this whole thing. Hopefully they can both grow from this.
The second, much darker joke here is that Theo has such a low opinion of Andi at this point that he actually thought she would tattoo and 8-year-old (even if it is her daughter).

I really like the bonding between a tattoo thing they have going on. I think it’s incredibly sweet of her to let Amanda fill it in with whatever she chooses. It’s unique and special.

And yeah I can’t imagine he truly thought that Andi would actually tattoo an 8 year old girl… sure Andi likes tattoos, but so does Todd.

Funny little random tidbit, I’ve never understood why there has to be a specific age limit for tattoos, some people say it’s to prevent getting stupid tattoos when you’re too young to realize they’re stupid, but someone please explain to me how that changes when you’re older lol I’ve seen adults get some really ridiculously stupid tattoos they regretted within the week.

Now, no I don’t necessarily think we should let a 5 year old get a tattoo, but maybe like 14 or something isn’t so weird if you think about it.

You can’t really stop an adult from doing stupid things they later regret, but at least you can set some sort of boundary between “Why did you let me do that?” and “I’ve got only myself to blame.” (Also, decisions change when you have to earn the money yourself, compared to wheedling parents into funding it.)

There are a few factors I would guess are pretty strong for a 14-year-old: Hormones. Peer pressure. Fandoms that will later be abandoned, but for those few short months are the most important indicator of your character and allegiance (to yourself or to your peers). Crushes that likewise seem like The One and Only Person I Will Ever Love. And their reverse, grudges.

I can vaguely recall a guy I liked in square dancing, but I don’t recall his name or much of what he looked like. But Mom swears she thought we’d get married. That was in my teenage years.

There are plenty of shows worth enjoying into adulthood, or picking up as adults when you didn’t care about them earlier, but they’re a small fraction of the overall group of shows kids can enthuse over.

So let me ask you this: Consider a girl of 14 and another of 18. Now consider the comparative likelihood of each of them getting a tattoo of any of the following:

1. Justin Bieber
2. Well, that might be sufficient in and of itself, given how rapidly my niece loved that guy and how quickly she put him behind her.
3. Name of the most popular jock in school, who has never spoken to them, and then a few months later gets convicted of rape.
4. A poem they wrote themselves with cringe-worthy poetic structure, before they’re skilled enough to understand why they’ll later want to forget they ever wrote it.
5. The latest and most emotional hashtag on Twitter.
6. The date their favorite celebrity couple broke up.
7. A pattern that continues their dyed hair down one arm, in a color that five years from now they will consider childish.
8. A facial design that, while pretty, will deny them countless jobs.

Right, but the thing is, all of those things aside from hitting puberty apply to adults. Like I said, plenty adults I’ve known have done that exact thing. Got a tattoo of ‘the one’ only to break up weeks later, got a tattoo of Goku and the 7 Dragon balls only to hate the show a year or two later, getting joint tattoos with a friend only to lose touch later.

Adults make stupid choices all the same as children do, the only difference is they no longer have the excuse of being a child.

And as far as Justin Bieber goes, so what? Adults do the exact same thing. A 29 year old I worked with adored those guys that did the song Blurred Lines for a whole 6 months and then decided it was stupid. Adults are just as fickle as children are, sometimes WORSE because they have no restraint.

Also I think it’s funny you chose, ‘the most popular jock in school’ to be a rapist. Isn’t that a little shallow? I’m not trying to pick a fight with you, but it’s sort of offensive when people stereotype others. Just because that sort of thing is seen often. In news reports doesn’t mean that average Joe or straight A honors student or even a GIRL can’t rape others.

Well, an argument can be made for the fact that your personality changes a lot more rapidly in your teenage years than later in life, thus you are at least less likely to get a tattoo you’ll regret after a few months, when you’re older. I got my first tattoo at 25, but I’d been pretty certain about wanting to have one since 16, just didn’t know what.

People are different and some 14-year-olds might be mature enough to actually get a tattoo, but a lot of them are not, in my opinion. (I work as a schoolteacher for 13-15 year-olds, so I meet a lot of kids and some of them should absolutely NOT be allowed to make that decision).

Aside from that, there’s the whole spiel about children being too trusting. My wife got her first tattoo at 16 (which in Denmark where we live is illegal) and aside from the tattoo looking like sh*t, because the guy who made it wasn’t good enough, she later found out that a lot of people got hepatitis from that tattoo parlour (luckily she didn’t) because their hygiene sucked. Older people generally are more cautious and less spur of the moment. (Here I don’t count drunk people, because tattooing an intoxicated person, in Denmark, is also illegal. It happens, but it’s not allowed)

Rapists come from all quarters, but I was going for the worst case scenario of tattooing a popular person’s name on your body, and that was the scenario that jumped out at me. I doubt many people tattoo the names of honors students or “that creepy guy who can never get a date” or the like.

Also, you’re the one who assumed the jock I mentioned was male. Nothing in my wording assumes that, unless you take it for granted that girls can’t be jocks.

The main problem really is that there’s no good standard for maturity. We had a speaker at our church once who’s the prosecutor for some county in our state, and he pointed out that the law can’t be vague or “up for interpretation” about age limits.

Are there adults who shouldn’t be getting tattoos? Sure. Are there teens under the age of consent who are mature enough to know what they want in a sexual relationship? Almost certainly. But we set age limits to protect the majority and we allow nigh-unlimited free choice to people over the limit in part because, pragmatically, it’s impossible to do otherwise — not to mention that the government shouldn’t be restricting adults from doing a lot of things they currently think is the government’s business (everything from drugs to, apparently, the size of sodas businesses are allowed to sell, and the amount of wheat a family can grow for their personal use).

20-year-old babysitter has about a minute worth of “sex” with 11-year-old. Dad says no biggie, the kid wanted it. Judge says the babysitter is immature for their age while the 11-year-old is mature for their age, and therefore it “muddies” the standard a little, and therefore lets the babysitter off with an incredibly light sentence.

This — THIS — is why the law CANNOT leave age limits up to interpretation by the judges.

It shouldn’t really matter that the babysitter was female and the kid male. Also, it’s even more chilling that the dad had a sexual relationship with the babysitter prior to this encounter. Because that couldn’t possibly affect his judgment. (Also, if the 20-year-old is “immature for her age” enough to matter in a court case, shouldn’t the dad be up for rape charges himself?)

Actually it’s more of a weight and height thing for those if you think about it. If you’re not tall enough to reach the peddles or see over the wheel, you can’t drive, at least that’s how it is where I’m from, unless you get things adjusted accordingly. And while yes, the drinking laws are indeed in place to keep cholden from harming themselves, a lot of it has to do with how your body functions at that point and how much you weigh. A friend of mine is severely underweight and the doctors specifically have told him not to drink because it can easily be fatal for him.

My understanding of the age limits on drinking — and driving — include this: The decision-making part of your brain is not fully developed until around age TWENTY-FIVE.

And it would probably be beneficial to push the age limit back that far. If that age limit were followed, there would be fewer really bad decisions about alcohol, and about driving. But it’s simply not practical to push it back more than we have.

And if we did push it back that far, we’d be penalizing the people who are very careful with their decisions in both areas, just to avoid problems with the ones who aren’t. Which is rarely a good standard to use.

And how is that developing brain effected?
And how do any of the studies on it go about answering the question of ‘why did this 14 year old start heavily drinking regularly?’ Note that letting a kid have a beer with his fries is not the same as letting him chug vodka, and that the laws you’re talking about are amazing at stopping one of those things, but not good at controling the other. (The one it stops also does not cause brain damage. The damage doesn’t corolate directly with the alcohol.)

Also, consider this. As surely as the flood of endorphins after labor that help a mother bond with her child are important, the experience of getting drunk with friends can be a positive and healthy experience. Especially for males who otherwide are not socially allowed to show affection or weakness.

Fun side note. Whatever you think about alcohol, it’s production and consumption has fueled societies everywhere for millenia. Look up smithsonian, the history of beer.

Re the age limit — there’s also a pragmatic reason, I suspect! If the kid is still growing, then even the most beautiful Mona Lisa of Tattoos, that will have everyone falling all over themselves to admire and worship with no detrimental effects at all… Will become distorted as the kid grows up and their skin stretches.

Melting Clocks is nice if that’s what you want. Melting Mona Lisa… perhaps not so much.

Note that some kids are still growing till 16-18, depending on hormones, sex, and genetics.

I think things are just moving a bit too fast for Theo. Or, I should say, Amanda is moving too fast. If he were keeping up, he’d have realized she couldn’t be talking about a tattoo on her own body — if that had been the case she’d just have shown it, herself. Instead, she excitedly demanded that Andi should show it.

Dave- I love the pun names for common products, it doesn’t have to be that far a leap- maybe “Someone get me a Dullie marker!” (as in the opposite of Sharpie) and with keeping marker in there people would still get the joke even if they didn’t get the reference.
According to their website Sharpie is available in a pretty wide market, US, Canada, Mexico, large parts of South America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and parts of South Asia.

Ehhh, I like the line as it is. I agree with your reasoning, Dave. Using the brand name would have alliterative value so I see why you liked it, but I also see why you didn’t use it. Best to save the pseudo-brands for times when you want people to have to pause before they get it.

Remember though, Andi detests stock tattoos with no meaning behind them. I find it hard to believe she’d get a tattoo of Amanda’s name and let her decide what’s going to go around it without there being importance behind it. I personally think it’s there to remind her Amanda is a gift she needs to cherish as well as a means to bond with Amanda and give her a creative outlet.

Yeah, I’d say the fact that she showed the belly and unfinished back pieces rather than the much more socially-acceptable arm until Amanda got excited and wanted “her” tattoo shown off says to me that Andi was keeping it sort of private. She showed the clover leaf first and “showing belly” has been long a synonym for surrender or making oneself vulnerable.

Dave I remember first time seeing her tale of Gilgamesh tat I thought it was the lower intestinal track. Also I love that Amanda gets to choose what’s next. I have a tat on my ankle of the fairy guild symbol so I love tats that are different. My friend had gotten the doctor’s name in gallifreyian inside a galaxy she designed herself.